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A Lee blessing could help Ma: Wang Jin-pyng

"What the `deep-blue' [camp members] must realize is that Ma's ultimate goal is to win next year's presidential election."

Wang Jin-pyng, legislative speaker

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) urged the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) "deep-blue" supporters yesterday to recognize that seeking the support of former KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) would help KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) win more votes among ethnic Taiwanese.

Approached by reporters yesterday, Wang said it was a fact that Lee, the spiritual leader of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), has a major influence on ethnic Taiwanese.

"What the `deep-blue' [camp members] must realize is that Ma's ultimate goal is to win next year's presidential election," Wang said.

"Everyone regards a Ma victory as the goal. From this perspective, people should not oppose [Ma seeking Lee's support]. We should respect Ma's decision," he said.

Wang was responding to a report in yesterday's Chinese-language United Daily News, which quoted an anonymous source from Ma's camp as saying that Ma and Lee see eye-to-eye on the likelihood that former premier Vincent Siew's (蕭萬長) nomination as Ma's running mate would help Ma garner support from swing voters.

The story quoted another anonymous source as saying that some KMT members were in favor of cooperating with "the pro-localization force led by Lee" after Lee, in an interview in Next Magazine early this year, made remarks about leaving aside the issues of unification and independence.

The source said that given this, the meeting between Lee and Siew on the night Ma announced Siew's nomination was certainly "not a simple courtesy call."

Media speculation that Ma had established channels with Lee, however, has upset some KMT members, as Lee has been on poor terms with the party since the KMT lost the presidency to the Democratic Progressive Party in 2000.

KMT Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) previously urged Ma to consider the feelings of KMT grassroots supporters.

The TSU caucus dismissed the United Daily News report yesterday as a "false story," alleging that this was a deception tactic aimed at gaining more votes for Ma.

TSU Legislator David Huang (黃適卓) told a press conference that it was impossible for Lee, who would prefer an ethnic Taiwanese to be the next president, to support Ma, who supports unification with China.
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